Dancing With The Enemy
by spankkandy
Summary: Five years after the War at Hogwarts, Hermione finds herself heartbroken and betrayed by the one person who held her heart. Now full of angst she learns what it's like to live in darkness and starts to play with fire. Moving back to where it all began, she becomes reckless and one night she finds herself alone, dancing with the enemy.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** I may be 27 years old now but the world of Harry Potter has always and will always own my heart. Here is to hoping that I can come up with something better than my 16-year-old self could write but keep in mind I haven't written in years. Please note this story is based 5 years Post Wizarding War at Hogwarts.

 **Disclaimer:** J.K. Rowling owns it all, I'm merely borrowing her world and characters.

* * *

 **Chapter 1  
**

"Get out,"

"Hermione please," the red head before her pleaded.

"I said get out," she seethed.

"Hermio-,"

"GET OUT," the bushy hair witch screeched furiously, raising her wand and pointing it dangerously at his chest. From past experiences, Ron knew better than to be on the bad end of Hermione's wand, especially when she was angry. He stumbled backwards, tripping over the half-packed suitcase on the floor behind him; falling onto his backside. Ron swished his wand quickly and his clothes strewn across the bedroom flew neatly into the suitcase next to him. Without hesitating he wrapped his fingers around the handle of his suitcase and apparated out of sight with a loud crack.

Hermione fell to a crumpled heap on the floor, her sudden outburst of anger turning into sadness as tears began to fall from her almond shaped eyes. She had caught him packing his things in their apartment whilst he thought she was out, his plan to disappear and unite with his lover before her return. Would he have even left her a note?

Hermione's heart ached while her mind began replaying thoughts and memories. She knew that Ron and Lavender had kept in touch these past few years after finishing at Hogwarts, however Hermione never thought much of it until a few days ago, especially after Ron had repeatedly assured her they were just friends. What had originally crossed her mind was that Ron might have still carried a torch for Lavender. She told herself she was being stupid, that she was being nothing other than insecure after Ron had tried to set her straight. " _It was just a fling back in 6_ _th_ _Year, you know that Mione, it's in the past and Lavender and I are just friends now_." He had said this to her less than 18 months ago.

It was by pure accident that Hermione had stumbled across a love letter that Lavender had written to Ron. She was in the spare room of their apartment, pulling things from the shelf of the walk-in wardrobe in hopes of finding some of the photographs taken back at Hogwarts. Hermione was on her tip toes, reaching for what looked like the strap of her old book bag, she tugged and the bag cam sailing out, however it wasn't the only thing to tumble down on her. Picking up the items that had fallen, she came across an old Gryffindor lunch box. Hermione's inquisitiveness got the better of her as she pried off the lid to find out what hidden treasures and memories might be inside.

" _Letters addressed to Ron? Why on earth would they be in a lunch box_?" she chuckled to herself. She thought they may have been letters penned by herself or fellow Gryffindor's over the Summer's apart during their school years, but she thought it funny for them to be stored in an old lunchbox. Hermione could not have been more wrong. Inside was a letter dated a few days earlier from Lavender Brown.

" _To my dearest Ronniekins,_

Words can't describe how much I miss you my love. It pains me to be apart from you for so long and I miss your soft touch. I count the days until we are united once more, this time for good."

Hermione's heart dropped to her stomach, she didn't want to read on, but she did.

 _"I'll be waiting for you on the 13_ _th_ _at the Cabin by the lake. The cabin where we first pledged ourselves to one another. Meet me there my love. I will be waiting._

~ With all my heart,  
Lavender"

Hermione had set the letter down and looked through the rest of old lunch box. It seemed that this wasn't the only letter from her old peer Lavender Brown that her boyfriend had received. There were at least twenty or thirty others. It had surprised even her, that instead of crying or screaming she slowly packed the letters back into the box and sealed the lid, replacing it in the back corner of the shelf where it came from.

Mindlessly she had made her way into the study, sitting in the leather wing backed chair behind her desk that faced the window opposite the park. That's where Ginny had found her several hours later.

 _"Hello, is any one home? Hermione are you here?"_ Ginny had called out from downstairs. Hermione was meant to be meeting Ginny hours earlier in central London to go dress shopping for the engagement party. Harry had finally proposed. Hermione was in a trance like state, numb and apparently deaf to the calls of her best friend. _"There you are Mione! What on earth happened? I thought you were going to meet me at Sinatra's?"_ the young red head questioned.

Hermione slowly lifted her head to meet the gaze of her friend. "Sorry, I must have lost track of time" she muttered, not really sounding sorry at all. Ginny had known from the response that something was wrong. The fiery redhead was relentless in questioning her friend what was wrong until eventually Hermione gave up and began to relay what had occurred earlier. Needless to say, Ginny was furious when she found out her brother had been cheating on her best friend but agreed not to say anything so long as Hermione pack an overnight so that she could spend a few days at their place to think things through.

Ginny penned a note on Hermione's behalf and stuck it on the kitchen bench before coaxing her friend from the house.

Three days later Hermione had returned home to the apartment, having hidden away at Harry and Ginny's house with time to think and get her head around what had been happening behind her back. She knew it was time to face Ron, to at least put out in the open that she knew he had been betraying her. That's when she had walked in on Ron in their bedroom, evidentially packing his belongings to go and meet Lavender at _"their"_ cabin without so much as giving her an explanation.

Hermione's blood boiled as all rational flew from her body; she was shaking tremendously.

"Get out,"

* * *

 **A/N** : So there we have Chapter 1. I know it isn't very long, but I'm just slowly easing back into writing. I'm sure as the chapters progress, they will get longer. I do however NEED a Beta reader so if you're up for the job please send me a message.


	2. Chapter 2

A/N: Hi everyone, thank you for reading chapter one. Please remember to review as all feed back and polite critique are welcomed! This is the second chapter, again I will remind you I have no Beta at the moment so please excuse my horrible grammatical errors below. Enjoy!

* * *

 **Chapter 2**

Hours had passed and Hermione had remained where she crumpled on the floor; the sleeping witch still clutched her wand in her hand, her eyes, although closed looked puffy and swollen from crying. Slowly she stirred and began to move into a sitting position. _"I should get up,"_ she thought to herself. Laying on the floor wasn't the most comfortable of things to do.

 _"What do I do now that Ron's gone? Do I call Ginny? Do I throw the rest of his personal effects out? Do I try and find him? Do I want to find him? How could he do this to me? Why?"_ One by one questions popped into her head until she felt almost faint from being overwhelmed. Hermione decided that before she did anything else, she would at least take a hot shower and clean herself up. The door leading to bathroom was on the other side of the bed; grabbing her towel and robe she made her way towards the shower. She kicked off her shoes, tore off her socks and began removing each layer of her clothing. Usually Hermione didn't leave her shoes and clothes everywhere, she was a neat freak; but today, she didn't give a hoot.

Hot water started flowing from the lavish shower head and soon the room was immersed in steam. Hermione stepped slowly into the shower, closing the glass door behind her; the burning hot water prickling her skin as it cascaded over her body.

Forty minutes later Hermione was showered, dried and wrapped in her fluffy green robe. Retreating towards the bed, she stopped. She didn't want to lay in their bed, not after everything that had happened. Ron had been unfaithful to her for over a year. If he hadn't wanted to be with her, why say not say something? They had only moved into the apartment together several months prior and it drove Hermione again to tears, wondering how and why Ron could do this to her?

Hermione was a strong young woman; hell, she was a War Hero who had helped Harry Potter defeat Lord Voldemort for crying out loud, she had been tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange with the crutiatius curse and suffered multiple injuries in the war, but no matter how strong Hermione might be, at the end of the day, deep down she was still a girl who had a heart which was now broken.

Instead of the bed, she walked downstairs to the lounge room, flopping heavily onto to the couch opposite their muggle TV screen where slowly she once again cried herself to sleep.

* * *

"Hermione, do you want the rest of his clothes just shoved in the box?" asked Harry, who stood in front of the wardrobe in the master bedroom. He still looked the same five years on, tall with broad shoulders and his iconic messy dark hair and emerald green eyes; Lily's eyes.

"Yes please Harry, just shove it all in, anything left behind gets burned," she said, flashing him a grin.

It had been three weeks since Ron had left Hermione. He hadn't attempted to contact her in the time he was gone and Hermione was almost glad. In that time she had cried, laughed and yelled in her now seemingly lonely home. She had decided that she no longer needed a two-story apartment with three rooms as it was just her, so she'd negotiated an early release of tenancy with the real estate. Hermione didn't' want any more memories of what she had shared with Ron taunting her day in and day out, so it was time to move forwards.

It was time to go back to where it all started; Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

In the weeks that had passed by, Hermione had gotten in touch with Headmistress Minerva McGonagall, owling her to see if any positions on the Hogwarts staff were available. A day later she had received word that an Assistant Medi-Witch position was open and hers if she wanted it. Being the brightest witch of her age and the top student in the history of Minerva's teaching career, she welcomed the thought of the young witch joining the faculty at Hogwarts. The position came with living quarters at the castle (and 24 hour access to the library an it's restricted section), so that solved the housing issue and Hermione was welcome to move in during the holidays to re-acquaint herself with the castle before the school term commenced for the year. It had re-awakened a fire in Hermione's heart; knowing she was going back.

"I'm just about done here Harry," Hermione said, packing the last of her own clothes into an oversized trunk. She flicked down the locks before shrinking the item to fit in the palm of her hand.

"Me too Mione, just need to tape up this box and I think I'm done. I'll drop his things off at the Burrow to on my way home," Harry replied, carelessly shoving more of Ron's things into the box.

"Thanks Harry, really, you and Ginny have been life savers," she said, giving him a warm smile. Harry had always been impartial to his two best friends fighting. He learnt years ago not to bother getting in the middle of their arguments as he ended up in the firing line from them both. Although Harry had never truly taken sides, this time he was more than disgusted at his future brother-in-law's behaviour. Ron had sent an owl to Harry, explaining that he had left Hermione who he'd apparently fallen out of love with as the same time his feelings blossomed for Lavender. He had explained that he had been planning to confront Hermione for months but was a coward, too scared to face her.

"That's what friends are for Mione," he grinned.

The rest of the evening passed in a blur. Harry had left a few hours later with Ginny who had stopped by to bring them dinner on her way home from her job at the Ministry. Hermione had packed the final boxes of her office and sat for one last time in her favorite wing backed chair. She smiled, looking at the park across the way – the park where she used to take a book and lay on the sweet smelling freshly cut grass in the warm weather, the world around her fading away.

* * *

Hermione stood in the doorway of her once warm and welcoming home, thinking how it now looked cold and barren since the removalist had left. Harry had taken all of Ron's things to the Burrow a few days prior and she had organized that the furniture be packed into a muggle storage facility. She wouldn't need anything whilst residing at Hogwarts aside her personal effects so it made the most sense to her. _"This is good bye,"_ she thought to herself, tracing a hand along the frame of the wooden door, taking one last look around the place before closing the door. In Hermione's mind it was closing a chapter of her life; one she would not want to re-open any time soon.

"Alright. Time to get moving," she said to herself aloud. As she needed to pick up supplies from Diagon Alley before term, Hermione had organized to rent a room for the night at the Leaky Cauldron in London. It had been months since she had been there and she would welcome the familiarity of the place she had grown to love in her younger years. Not only that, how could she pass up a trip to Flourish and Blotts to pick up a book and a new set of robes from Madam Malkins.

"Welcome back Miss Granger," said a familiar voice as Hermione walked through the doors to the Leaky Cauldron.

"Tom! It's been so long," the bushy haired witch said, rushing over and quickly hugging the now almost bald innkeeper standing next to the bar.

"Aye, it has, but not much around here has changed" he laughed, pulling away from their hug. "Here, let me take your things up to your room while you relax and settle in. You'll be staying in number 8," he said, grabbing hold of her bags from where she had dropped them down.

"Tom no, it's fine, really – I'm more than happy to take my-"

"No, you won't Miss Granger, leave an old man be to do his job and you go and get a drink or re-acquaint yourself with the Alley" he chided, pulling the bags out of her reach and giving her a look.

She threw her hands up in the air and laughed, "Okay, okay, you can take my bags. Thank you, Tom. I'll head out, but be back in a few hours."

Leaving her things with Tom, Hermione retreated out the back door the building, finding herself face to face once again with the brick wall that lead to Diagon Alley. She tapped the red brick three times with her wand and in an instant the wall in front of her became alive. Bricks shuffled from here to there, swinging around quickly as they created a doorway for her to walk through. Hermione stepped under the archway and into Diagon Alley, it was busy and bustling with witches and wizards everywhere like it always was.

"Now, to Flourish and Blotts," she thought, smiling to herself.

Weaving her way through the busy crowds, Hermione made mental notes of all the stops she intended to make, the first after the book shop to be her Gringotts's account. A few minutes later something caught the corner of her eye; a mannequin adorning a dark silver robe stood positioned in the window of Madam Malkin's – it seemed to glisten and Hermione found herself wandering over to it. _"It's beautiful,"_ she thought, looking the robe up and down, _"I might have to come back and try this on_ ,". Through the window Hermione noticed something else, a young witch seemed to be trying on the most beautiful wedding robes with Madam Malkin and her assistant fussing over her. The girl twirled around, the robes swishing beautifully as she did. Hermione blood froze as the girls' face came into view; it was Lavender.

A moment passed before Hermione turned around swiftly, letting go of the breath she didn't realize she was holding. She bumped into something solid, or rather, someone. Hermione froze and looked up at the man with fiery red hair, their eyes meeting. Of all people she could have run into, let alone physically bump into, it had to be him.

"H-h-h-hermione," Ron stuttered.

A/N: Please let me know what you think! Review! Review! Review! Please also note I go back to work tomorrow so further chapters may not come through until next weekend.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N: Thanks to everyone who has followed or Favorited this story and to those who may have reviewed. Please consider I have no BETA which is why there are errors grammatically – if you're up for the job, PLEASE let me know! I hope you all enjoy this story and I hope my free style writing makes sense. Also apologies for the super long delay in chapters… I resigned from my job, left and got a new one! It's been a bit hectic around here as of late.

* * *

 **Chapter Three**

"H-h-h-hermione," Ron stuttered. Hermione's features darkened, her face turning into a scowl and she wrapped her cloak protectively around her shoulders.

"Don't," was the only word that escaped from her lips.

"Hermione, please," he said.

"What Ronald? What could you possibly have to say to me after all this time?"

"I just-"

Hermione cut him off, "Just what Ronald? Forgot to tell me how you were cheating on me? In love with another woman? How could you?! You tell me not to be angry that you're friends, to trust you, that it was a fling from Hogwarts and you go behind my back? Why did you even stay with me? Why couldn't you just be honest with me?"

"Mione please," he begged.

"You don't get to call me that anymore Ronald," she scolded.

"I tried to tell you. A few times, but… I couldn't. I didn't want to hurt you," Ron said, lowering his gaze to his feet as if he were ashamed.

"Oh. You didn't want to hurt me? Well it's a bit fucking late for that isn't it? You coward. Your mother would be disappointed. After all this time, after all these years and you can't be honest with me. I thought I meant more to you than that Ronald. I thought we promised to always be honest with one another, always"

"I don't love you Hermione. I never loved you. I don't want to be with you, it's always been her. Why can't you understand that? What is so bad about me wanting to be happy? I thought you were the smartest witch of our age?"

Hermione felt like Ron had just wedged a knife into her heart, twisting and turning it with every word that came out of his mouth. Ron had never been so spiteful to her in his entire life. _"I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry, I'm not going to cry"_ she thought to herself repeatedly. Hermione's mind was racing. He didn't love her. He had said it himself. He didn't want to be with her. She was never good enough for him. Her lip trembled _. "No, I won't give him that satisfaction,"._ Hermione didn't like to show her sad emotions so instead she went to turn away, but Ron grabbed her roughly by the arm and attempted to pull her back.

Hermione whipped around, her sadness now fury. "Don't touch me," she said. His grip on her arm tightened and keeping a brief eye out for onlookers Ron dragged her towards the alley way a few metres behind them. "Ron, you're hurting me. Let go," Hermione said, struggling to pull herself from his grasp. Finally, around the corner Ron let her go.

"For years all you've done is talk down to me and get in the way of me and Lav. If it wasn't for the war, I would have never gotten close to you. I kissed you in the Chamber of Secrets because I thought I was going to die. That is the ONLY reason I kissed you then. I saw how you looked at me and I just felt sorry for you. Poor little Hermione Granger, buck toothed and frizzy haired Mudblood that no boy ever looked twice at. It just spiralled from there, I was pressured to be with you." he said to her, hatred flowing from him.

Tears fell one after the other from her almond shaped eyes. Those were the single most hurtful words that Hermione had ever heard in her entire life. No one had even been so cruel. It didn't hurt this much when Draco Malfoy had teased her and called her a Mudblood in school or when Bellatrix Lestrange tortured her at Malfoy Manner or even when she obliviated her parents. Hermione felt like her chest was going to rip in two with all the sadness it was now holding. How could he do this? Thoughts flooded her head and something clicked in her; the sadness turning swiftly to anger.

She hadn't realized she had retrieved her wand and in a thoughtless moment of anger Hermione yelled "DUCKLIFORS". A zap of blue light shone for half a heartbeat and within an instant the wizard was gone and sitting in his place at her feet was a small fluffy orange duck. The duck began to quack loudly and Hermione, edging towards her with a snapping beak. She didn't waste as second to point her wand at it once again, glaring though the tears. The duck made a strangled nose and began to tottle away from her in fear of being attacked once again.

Hermione looked around the deserted alleyway, it seemed that no one had noticed her little transgression. _"I can't believe I just did that,"_ she thought to herself. She wiped away the tears that stained her face with the back of her hand. Hermione had never truly been so angry as to lay a curse on anyone in her life aside from during the war and that was a live or die situation. It wasn't in her nature to attack, but boy he had said some cruel things.

Pulling a pocket mirror from her bag, Hermione checked her eyes and spelled the puffiness away before smoothing out her robes. _"I need to go and get all of my errands sorted before the shops close,"_ she thought to herself. _"I can have a break down later, but not in public. Hold yourself together,"_

* * *

A few hours later Hermione had completed her errands through Diagon Alley. She had been to Gringotts to collect some of her savings, purchased new books from Flourish and Blotts, new herbs and potion ingredients from Slug and Jiggers Apothecary and even made time to eat her feelings in a tub of Florean Fortescue's ice cream. It was almost dark when Hermione entered the Leaky Cauldron and before anything else she ran up to her room, left her belongings on the table and made her way back down to the bar.

"I'll grab two Firewhisky shots thanks Tom," Hermione said, perching herself on one of the leather-bound stools.

"Coming right up Miss Granger," the older man said from behind the bar.

Hermione downed both the shots back and signalled Tom for another.

"You're going to end up on the floor if you keep shooting those back so quickly," came a silky drawl from next to her. Hermione had been too engrossed in her shots that she hadn't noticed a silver haired man sit down next to her.

"Pfft, I'll be fine thanks," she shot, not even looking up at the stranger.

"Really Granger, I don't think Gryffindor's are cut out for the hard stuff."

At the sound of her name, Hermione whipped her face around, only to be almost nose to nose with none other than one Draco Malfoy. One very attractive Draco Malfoy.

"Malfoy… well, what a surprise," she said, raising an eyebrow. Tom placed another shot down in front of her and a short glass one could only assume was a mix of spirits and cola in front of Draco. Hermione again threw back her shot.

"Surprise indeed. So why all the shots? Did Weaselbee finally leave you or something?" he sneered.

Hermione looked into the bottom of her empty shot glass, rolling it around. "Yep."

Hermione's answer caught Draco off guard, he wasn't expecting that reply from her. _"Makes sense… after all I've never seen Granger drink like this… Actually I've never seen her drink at all,"_ he mused.

Draco didn't say anything but instead called over the barkeep "Firewhisky, leave the bottle Tom," he said, laying down a gold galleon on the bar. Draco grabbed the shot glasses, pouring them full and shoving one in front of Hermione who downed it instantaneously.

"Thanks Malfoy," she muttered and reached out for the next one.

"Now, now Granger, don't be greedy, this one's mine," – he flashed his perfect grin and grabbed the shot from her reach, draining it before refilling both glasses. For a pair that had such a tangled history at Hogwarts, both Hermione and Draco seemed to be relaxed in one another's company. The conversation flowed easily, although that may have been the Firewhisky. Within the hour they were both drunk and had moved from the bar to a table in the back corner.

"So I thought you would have been married to Pansy Parkinson by now," Hermione slurred. Draco snorted and sloshed his drink.

"Pug face Parkinson? Haha. Probably would have been… if she didn't fuck nearly the entire Slytherin Quidditch team," he laughed.

"Seriously?,"

"Just about yeah. Better off without her and her bad morning breath" he drawled. "I'm better off a lone wolf anyways. No chance to get hurt this way." Hermione and Draco threw back another shot each. They continued their conversation about failed relationships and Hermione spoke briefly about her issues with Ron and what had happened. Draco had seemed disgusted at the way that she was treated. Even a pure-blood asshole knew how to treat a woman.

The rest of the night turned into a blur for the two Hogwarts alumni as they continued to drown themselves in nearly two bottles of Firewhisky and then gigglewater upon Hermione's request. The rest of the Leaky Cauldron had quietened down after midnight; however Draco and Hermione were still drinking long after.

* * *

Hermione's eyes slowly fluttered open as she began to wake the following morning. The pillow beneath her head seemed soft and warm. She wrapped her arm tighter around her pillow, breathing in it's scent of what seemed to be a mixture of ink and cologne. Her pillow moved beneath her. "Wait. Moved?" her eyes shot open as pulled away from her pillow.

"Sleep well?" came none other than the silky voice of Draco Malfoy.


End file.
